Juan Lopez Ortiz, 37, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for assaulting two Freeborn Jail employees, filed an appeal against the Freeborn County District Court ruling and asked the State Court of Appeals to review the case.

Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Juan Lopez Ortiz, 37, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for assaulting two Freeborn Jail employees, filed an appeal against the Freeborn County District Court ruling and asked the State Court of Appeals to review the case.

Ortiz was accused of attacking two jailers in an apparent attempt to escape in August last year. A jury gave a guilty verdict for first-degree assault and three other counts, and the judge delivered the 10-year sentence. Ortiz was transferred to the state prison in Stillwater to serve the period.

In the Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel will examine if there were any legal errors made during the trial in the district court, and issue a decision within 90 days after oral arguments between the prosecutor and defense attorney from the state public defender’s office.

The County Attorney’s Office has sent the trial documents to the State Attorney General’s Office that would handle the appellate case.

Ortiz’s grounds for the appeal are unknown. But in the trial, the defense attorney accused the prosecutors of failing in establishing probable cause for the first-degree assault.

The argument focused on &uot;deadly force&uot; which was necessary to satisfy the definition of the crime.

The state statute defined the term as force &uot;which the actor uses with the purpose of causing, or which the actor should reasonably know creates a substantial risk of causing death or great bodily harm.&uot;

The defense filed a motion to dismiss the case, insisting the assault was without any weapon, and would not cause the degree of injury comprising a the first-degree assault.

The motion was granted in December last year. However, the appellate court reversed the district court decision.

In its decision, the higher court judges said, &uot;Deadly force need not involve a dangerous weapon or any weapon for that matter.&uot;

Other inmates in the jail testified that Ortiz struck one jailer extremely hard, which caused the officer’s head to fall on a heavy steel control box. Ortiz then hit the officer, who was already unconscious on the floor, repeatedly. The officer suffered short-term memory loss.

From these circumstances and a report from a hospital about the injury, the appellate court ruled the act was &uot;sufficient for the user of the force to know he is creating the substantial risk of such (great bodily) harm.&uot;

Ortiz was apprehended by the Albert Lea Police Department on July 31 last year after being stopped for a traffic violation. The police discovered that he had two outstanding warrants in Maryland for crimes against two 14-year-old girls. The charges include sex offenses, sexual conduct, child abuse, and assault.